Cowlishaw: The leaked draft board? Jerry Jones' idea

2/11

Louis DeLuca/Staff Photographer

1. Monte Kiffin probably won’t be implementing his entire defensive playbook during his first season as Cowboys defensive coordinator. Kiffin wants to keep his 4-3 defense simple, which should allow players to be on the same page more than they were under Rob Ryan. The Tampa-Two guru said last week, “You can’t do everything. You just have to decide where to draw the line, go with this and make it work.”

It wasn’t until late Sunday afternoon when I finished
reading The News’ excellent coverage of the Zapruder film that the
significance of the Cowboys’ leaked draft board hit me.

This was all Jerry’s idea.

While I don’t buy into conspiracy theories related to the Kennedy
assassination or even the NBA playoffs, never let a good case of conspiracy go
unconsidered when it applies to Valley Ranch. Strange, unexplained things have
been known to happen there.

In case you missed it, the website bloggingtheboys.com, with the aid
of industrious readers, captured enough screen shots from the Cowboys’ “war
room” camera that they were able to piece together most of the team’s draft
board.

OK, maybe this isn’t the kind of leak that has Julian Assange going, “I wish
I’d thought of that.” Had it happened before the draft, now that would be a real
cause for alarm for this team. After the fact, the benefits of seeing the
Cowboys’ board are largely for our amusement.

Oh, the Cowboys had five players on the board at 18 that had
disappeared by the time they picked after trading down to 31? Interesting.
Sounds like a mistake. Second-round grades for quarterbacks Matt Barkley and
Ryan Nassib? Well, why didn’t they grab one to give Tony Romo a little
push?

But when you examine the board more closely, you find it fits exactly what
Jones was saying on the Friday night after the draft’s third round was complete.
The Cowboys had taken three players — center Travis Frederick with the 31st
pick, tight end Gavin Escobar with the 47th and wide receiver Terrance Williams
with the 74th — whom they had ranked in the top 25.

Jones tried to sell that pitch right away. It’s hard to say who, if anyone,
was buying. But unless you believe this board was somehow doctored between the
time the picks were made and these screen shots were gathered by determined
bloggers and readers, Jones was absolutely right.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they belonged in the top 25. Time will tell on
that one. But even if there was a vigorous discussion in the draft room as to
the merits of trading down from the 18th spot — as I said, all five available
players they had given first-round grades to disappeared before their turn came
at 31 — the Cowboys at least did a superb job of landing three players their
scouts had graded near the top.

Now what’s the downside to showing the world your draft board?

Well, you can be sure that every team has taken a look at it and, more to the
point, the players they readily dismissed have been given additional fuel for
when they face the Cowboys. If you think this is insignificant, check out Randy
Moss’ early appearances against Dallas.

Half the league may have passed on Moss when the troubled wide receiver came
out of Marshall, but he seemed to hold a personal grudge against only one.

Admittedly, I’m not terribly worried about how Buffalo quarterback E.J.
Manuel, taken 16th overall, feels about the Cowboys’ fourth-round grade. And I
realize it’s going to be difficult for Chicago’s first-round selection, guard
Kyle Long, to get too worked up about the Cowboys’ analysis of him as a
third-rounder.

But who knows whether Packers defensive end Datone Jones or Falcons
cornerback Desmond Trufant — also first-round picks Dallas had ranked as
third-round quality — will be able to make revenge-minded plays against the
Cowboys’ offense.

Mostly what the leaked draft board tells us is that the Cowboys were
committed to changing their defense to the type of players Monte Kiffin prefers
in his 4-3 unit. And that despite having quarterbacks ranked as second-round
quality, the Cowboys weren’t looking for Romo’s future replacement even when
multiple turns came their way in the second and third rounds.

The unanswerable question remains: Who runs the Cowboys draft?

Those who want to point fingers at Jones for this team’s many recent mistakes
have to keep in mind that he gets credit for the successes, too, if you are
bestowing ultimate authority powers on him. At the very least, the scouts put
together a board (unless you think Jones does that on his own, in which case you
need serious help) that the owner stuck to in order to secure three of the top
25 players.

I wouldn’t say the revelations of the board solved any great mysteries. But
for an organization that has kept the identity of its future play-caller secret
for months, this was practically a free pass to its innermost secrets, whether
issued intentionally or not.

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About Tim Cowlishaw

Tim Cowlishaw has been The Dallas Morning News' lead sports columnist since July 1998. Prior to that he covered the Cowboys for six seasons and the Stars for three as a beat reporter. He also covered the Rangers as a backup beat writer and was the San Jose Mercury News' beat writer on the San Francisco Giants in the late 1980s.

Tim has been appearing regularly on ESPN"s "Around the Horn" since the show made its debut in November 2002. He also worked with ESPN as part of the network's "NASCAR Now" coverage in 2007-08.

Favorite Dallas restaurants: Park, Nick and Sam's, Kenichi.

Worst sports prediction: His first in college ... that Earl Campbell had no shot at the Heisman Trophy.

Best sports memories: Seeing the Dallas Stars hoist the Stanley Cup long after midnight in Buffalo, watching the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl and Texas win the national title in perfect Rose Bowl settings.